Father of tragic Lisa Norris furious as blunder doctor keeps his job

THE medic who supervised tragic Lisa Norris's disastrous radiation treatment has been cleared to keep working.

THE medic who supervised tragic Lisa Norris's disastrous radiation treatment has been cleared to keep working.

Lisa's furious family said it was "a"whitewash and "a travesty" that a disciplinary panel had decided not to punish radiologist Dr Stuart McNee.

Grieving dad Ken Norris added: "I'm very disappointed that a man can do what he did and walk away from it.

"I was expecting him to at least get reprimanded.

"Nobody's taken responsibility for overdosing Lisa. They have just whitewashed it.

"What he did, he shouldn't have done - and he should have been made to answer for it."

McNee was a senior radiologist at Glasgow's famous Beatson cancer centre when Lisa, 17, was given NINETEEN massive radiation overdoses during treatment for a brain tumour. He oversaw the youngster's radiotherapy.

A panel of experts from the Health Professions Council ruled yesterday that McNee had shown a lack of competence in several areas.

He had failed to make sure that standard procedures were followed in Lisa's case, and failed to ensure the right systems were in place to support the inexperienced staff under his command.

McNee, 56, also failed to make sure the plan for Lisa's treatment was independently checked. In all, he was found guilty on five counts and his advocate said he accepted responsibility for mistakes in the patient's care. But the panel insisted that he was still fit to practise, and found that the offences were at the "lower end of the scale" of lack of competence.

They noted McNee's otherwise unblemished" 30-year career. And they blamed his actions, to a large extent, on staff shortages at the Beatson and a lack of support from bosses.

Chairman Colin Allies said McNee's unit was under "extreme pressure" at the time of Lisa's treatment because of heavy workload and a lack of experienced staff.

Lisa was not named at the hearing and was referred to as "Patient A".

Ken, and Lisa's mum Liz, were not informed about the case. They found out about it from journalists.

The couple got up at 5.30am to travel from their home in Girvan, Ayrshire to Edinburgh for the hearing.

But when they got to the hotel where the HPC's website said the case was being heard, they were told it had been moved to the Western General Hospital.

Ken, 54, said: "The secrecy would do credit to MI5."

Liz and Ken had hoped to come face to face with McNee at the hearing, but he is ill with stress and did not attend.

"It's absolutely disgusting," Ken said.

"We just wanted to see this person's face. We don't know what he looks like or anything about him but he did not have the guts to turn up and face us."

Lisa was given 60per cent more radiation than she should have received on each of the 19 occasions her treatment was bungled.

She suffered agonising burns to her head and neck. A report blamed lack of supervision and inexperienced staff.

Lisa's courage won the heart of Scotland, and she was befriended by Rangers star Nacho Novo.

She died a year after the mistakes in her treatment. The cause of death was listed as brain cancer.

Bosses at the Beatson said they had fully implemented the findings of a report on the scandal to make sure such mistakes cannot happen again.

They added that DrMcNee had been moved to a new role where his duties did not involve direct patient care.

Ken and Liz, who say the radiation mistakes delayed Lisa's cancer treatment, are taking legal action against the health board. A fatal accident inquiry will be held next March.